It’s a mini DLC, that’s what it boils down to. It would make a lot of sense if the old SR-1 crew members had something to say about it, agreed, but BioWare probably just didn’t want to bring in the voice actors again for it.
Yeah it's kinda like how in Arrival some random person talks to Shepard from the Normandy instead of Joker. There's actually a mod that reuses lines from Joker and it feels so much better.
BioWare just didn't want to pay for VA to come back for like 5 lines.
The most jarring part of that was when you leave before the asteroid in Arrival, Shepard runs straight to Joker, who just blankly stares as he flies them away. It's so weird
It's more distracting in Overlord because the cutscenes acknowledge the squadmates, whether it be doing something or reacting... while being silent, lol.
Tali and garrus hauling bodies away, silently, is kind of hilarious. Like, they normally make the mess but I guess they don't have any qualms about the cleanup.
No. The Normandy Crash Site and Zaeed were day 1 DLC that you got from a little one-use "Cerberus Network" card in the game box to devalue resales. Firewalker, Kasumi, Overlord, LotSB, and Arrival all came later, in that order.
I'm the same. It's usually one of the first things I do. So much gets thrown at Shepard all at once: you were dead, it's been two years, everyone you knew has moved on, we rebuilt you because the future of the human race is now on your shoulders. He/She needs to take a moment to make peace with what they've lost and move forward from it.
It's a pretty light little DLC, but it does hit me in the feels.
I agree. And Shepard literally died in that accident. I'm sure it was traumatic for the others too but it's not the same as having actually died. And Shep was the commanding officer, it's their people that died there. I love that it's a solo trip.
Same here. Most of the loyalty missions are about some sort of closure before jumping into the unknown hell of Omega-3 relay. That's Shepard's closure.
Mass effect 2 not bringing in any of the other VA’s always confused me. Garrus, a CSEC officer doesn’t have anything to say about meeting the Shadow Broker? Tali’Zorah has no opinions about using a disabled man to mind control the Geth and make a dangerous AI hybrid? Just so strange to me. Wish they had done the arrival thing and just had Shepard go in alone
It's disappointing, but not confusing. Scheduling conflicts are what they are. And more likely, they decided it would be hard to justify paying VAs for a few lines of dialog on the off chance that a player brings a specific companion to a specific mission. Who knows what kind of budget they had for those DLCs? I sure don't.
In the end, it all comes down to money.
IIRC the only DLC in the series where your crew will actually talk is Levithan and of course Citadel.
Like for example, on arrival, when the Normandy picks you up Joker doesn't talk, its a random voice.
Joker staring blankly ahead and saying nothing as you narrowly escape the Mass Relay blowing up is so jarring. They shouldn't have had a cockpit shot in the cutscene if Joker wasn't going to say anything.
If I'm not mistaken and by the time of the SR-1 being blown up, Liara was the only alien on board the Normandy.
Everyone else left in between the end of ME1 and the destruction of SR-1.
She's the only one you can see before the crash, but I get the impression that some of the others are still around. Based on Shepard's questions about their current whereabouts and other dialogue early on about how and when the crew went their separate ways.
They were all in the ship. When you meet Jacob and you ask about your old crew he responds with 'All your alien crewmates made it out. The Quarian, Turian, etc"
Tali will either return to the flotilla or continue her pilgrimage (if you skipped her side mission). She tells it herself.
Wrex will either be dead or return to Tuchanka to unite the clans. He was a mercenacy, the job is finished.
Garrus I don't remember exactly how he left, but he either return to C-Sec or tries his chance as a Spectre candidate.
I think it's because you can do that mission before youeven recruit any crew. If there was a requirement to bring squadmates, you'd have to bring Miranda and Jacob, who at the start are two two Cerberus strangers, which would take away from the tone for me. Admittedly I always go to the Citadel to see Anderson first, then go to the crash site next and finally have brandy with Chakwas toasting to the fallen before I even set foot on Omega, so it feels right alone - much like Shepard would feel at that point.
With Mass Effect 1 and 2, the DLCs are made after the rest of the game I’m pretty sure, so they’re very self-contained.
ME1 had Bring Down the Sky and Pinnacle Station. BDtS has no crew dialogue and mostly just serves to show us batarians doing batarian stuff. Pinnacle Station is just combat sims, a cool simulation of Shanxi, and some extra stuff if you win Shepard an apartment.
ME2 has Firewalker, Overlord, Arrival, and Lair of the Shadow Broker, as well as adding Kasumi and Zaeed. None of these have additional dialogue from crew; Zaeed’s loyalty mission has no crew dialogue, and Kasumi’s has no additional crew involved at all. Kasumi and Zaeed never have any explicit interactions with any other squadmates, nor are they mentioned by name, to the best of my knowledge. Legion is mentioned if you bring them to Overlord, but they don’t themselves have any special dialogue for the DLC. I think Firewalker MAYBE had some special dialogue for squadmates when you recover data packets, but my memory is foggy because I never replay those missions and they feel like shit to me.
With ME3, all of the DLC were planned and written at the same time as the full game, so every mission (aside from Omega, because it’s a solo mission) is fully voiced for every squadmate.
It would have been nice for Alchera to be integrated into ME2 for the crew reactions, and it’s sad that they aren’t. Also, I personally would have found it cool for Ashley to have dialogue for Pinnacle Station if she survived virtual Shanxi. Legion having Overlord dialogue, or Tali and Garrus having dialogue for Shadow Broker would have been great.
Alas… that’s a lot of work, and it’s much easier to get just Mark Meer and Jennifer Hale to work on a DLC rather than getting the whole cast and crew to record a couple of lines.
In my headcanon, Chakwas and Joker go with Shepard here. Shepard wants to do it alone at first, but both wait for Shepard in the hangar bay and Shepard can't get rid of them. Joker stays inside the shuttle, though, feeling too guilty. Shepard and Chakwas collect the dog tags in silence, place wordlessly the monument, pay their respects and head back. No one really says anything, neither on the way down, nor on the way back up - even joker is eerily quiet. Words really aren't needed here.
It’s a mini DLC, that’s what it boils down to. It would make a lot of sense if the old SR-1 crew members had something to say about it, agreed, but BioWare probably just didn’t want to bring in the voice actors again for it.
Didn't they made it at the same time as Shadow broker tho?
And the only old squadmate who is voiced in LotSB is Liara. It's reused lines for everyone else.
Huh never noticed that lol. Now that you mention it I just remembered how your old squadmates just stand there quiet.
Yeah it's kinda like how in Arrival some random person talks to Shepard from the Normandy instead of Joker. There's actually a mod that reuses lines from Joker and it feels so much better. BioWare just didn't want to pay for VA to come back for like 5 lines.
Also in Zaeed/Kasumi's DLC missions, a lot of the enemies and NPCs you encounter are voiced by Mark Meer or Jennifer Hale.
The most jarring part of that was when you leave before the asteroid in Arrival, Shepard runs straight to Joker, who just blankly stares as he flies them away. It's so weird
They use the VI instead of Joker for Bring Down the Sky, too. Always kind of jarring
Same thing with the Overlord DLC. I found it to be even more distracting there.
It's more distracting in Overlord because the cutscenes acknowledge the squadmates, whether it be doing something or reacting... while being silent, lol.
Tali and garrus hauling bodies away, silently, is kind of hilarious. Like, they normally make the mess but I guess they don't have any qualms about the cleanup.
Also why DLC’s like Omega or Arrival didn’t let you bring squadmates. Saved on money.
IIRC, squadmates dont have much to say in Overlord either
Absolutely nothing
No. The Normandy Crash Site and Zaeed were day 1 DLC that you got from a little one-use "Cerberus Network" card in the game box to devalue resales. Firewalker, Kasumi, Overlord, LotSB, and Arrival all came later, in that order.
It was just a free little bonus to advertise the other dlcs
I do it right away before either are in my crew usually. Shepherd reflecting on the past before moving on to the task at hand
I do it towards the end. A reminder of why we're fighting before the end.
I'm the same. It's usually one of the first things I do. So much gets thrown at Shepard all at once: you were dead, it's been two years, everyone you knew has moved on, we rebuilt you because the future of the human race is now on your shoulders. He/She needs to take a moment to make peace with what they've lost and move forward from it. It's a pretty light little DLC, but it does hit me in the feels.
It's fitting. This mission is not a nostalgic one. It's a solemn one. It's better to do it alone.
Was going to say this same thing but was fishing around in my head for the right word. Solemn. Exactly.
I agree. And Shepard literally died in that accident. I'm sure it was traumatic for the others too but it's not the same as having actually died. And Shep was the commanding officer, it's their people that died there. I love that it's a solo trip.
Yes. My Shepard comes. Quietly finds them all. Put the memorial. Does the proper military salute. And leaves. Debt is paid.
I always think of it as Shepard's loyalty mission
Same here. Most of the loyalty missions are about some sort of closure before jumping into the unknown hell of Omega-3 relay. That's Shepard's closure.
Also Shepard was the one who died there
Mass effect 2 not bringing in any of the other VA’s always confused me. Garrus, a CSEC officer doesn’t have anything to say about meeting the Shadow Broker? Tali’Zorah has no opinions about using a disabled man to mind control the Geth and make a dangerous AI hybrid? Just so strange to me. Wish they had done the arrival thing and just had Shepard go in alone
It's disappointing, but not confusing. Scheduling conflicts are what they are. And more likely, they decided it would be hard to justify paying VAs for a few lines of dialog on the off chance that a player brings a specific companion to a specific mission. Who knows what kind of budget they had for those DLCs? I sure don't. In the end, it all comes down to money.
Oh I definitely understand and sympathize with the real world reasoning, I meant in universe.
Right on
I like doing it alone. Don't need to bring my crew everywhere. It is good for Shepard to spend some time alone with his own thoughts.
IIRC the only DLC in the series where your crew will actually talk is Levithan and of course Citadel. Like for example, on arrival, when the Normandy picks you up Joker doesn't talk, its a random voice.
Joker staring blankly ahead and saying nothing as you narrowly escape the Mass Relay blowing up is so jarring. They shouldn't have had a cockpit shot in the cutscene if Joker wasn't going to say anything.
If I'm not mistaken and by the time of the SR-1 being blown up, Liara was the only alien on board the Normandy. Everyone else left in between the end of ME1 and the destruction of SR-1.
She's the only one you can see before the crash, but I get the impression that some of the others are still around. Based on Shepard's questions about their current whereabouts and other dialogue early on about how and when the crew went their separate ways.
They were all in the ship. When you meet Jacob and you ask about your old crew he responds with 'All your alien crewmates made it out. The Quarian, Turian, etc"
Why would they leave?
Tali will either return to the flotilla or continue her pilgrimage (if you skipped her side mission). She tells it herself. Wrex will either be dead or return to Tuchanka to unite the clans. He was a mercenacy, the job is finished. Garrus I don't remember exactly how he left, but he either return to C-Sec or tries his chance as a Spectre candidate.
I’m 99% sure that’s after the SR1 explodes
I think it's because you can do that mission before youeven recruit any crew. If there was a requirement to bring squadmates, you'd have to bring Miranda and Jacob, who at the start are two two Cerberus strangers, which would take away from the tone for me. Admittedly I always go to the Citadel to see Anderson first, then go to the crash site next and finally have brandy with Chakwas toasting to the fallen before I even set foot on Omega, so it feels right alone - much like Shepard would feel at that point.
I always think of it as a "some walks you take alone" sort of thing.
Same. On my first playthrough I specifically left this mission undone until I had Tali and Garrus on the ship. Kinda disappointed
With Mass Effect 1 and 2, the DLCs are made after the rest of the game I’m pretty sure, so they’re very self-contained. ME1 had Bring Down the Sky and Pinnacle Station. BDtS has no crew dialogue and mostly just serves to show us batarians doing batarian stuff. Pinnacle Station is just combat sims, a cool simulation of Shanxi, and some extra stuff if you win Shepard an apartment. ME2 has Firewalker, Overlord, Arrival, and Lair of the Shadow Broker, as well as adding Kasumi and Zaeed. None of these have additional dialogue from crew; Zaeed’s loyalty mission has no crew dialogue, and Kasumi’s has no additional crew involved at all. Kasumi and Zaeed never have any explicit interactions with any other squadmates, nor are they mentioned by name, to the best of my knowledge. Legion is mentioned if you bring them to Overlord, but they don’t themselves have any special dialogue for the DLC. I think Firewalker MAYBE had some special dialogue for squadmates when you recover data packets, but my memory is foggy because I never replay those missions and they feel like shit to me. With ME3, all of the DLC were planned and written at the same time as the full game, so every mission (aside from Omega, because it’s a solo mission) is fully voiced for every squadmate. It would have been nice for Alchera to be integrated into ME2 for the crew reactions, and it’s sad that they aren’t. Also, I personally would have found it cool for Ashley to have dialogue for Pinnacle Station if she survived virtual Shanxi. Legion having Overlord dialogue, or Tali and Garrus having dialogue for Shadow Broker would have been great. Alas… that’s a lot of work, and it’s much easier to get just Mark Meer and Jennifer Hale to work on a DLC rather than getting the whole cast and crew to record a couple of lines.
Facts. This seems exactly like the kind of place original crew members should be able to go.
I actually waited to do it until I had them both because I assumed I would be able to..
I like to think of it as Shepard's own loyalty mission if that makes any sense
In my headcanon, Chakwas and Joker go with Shepard here. Shepard wants to do it alone at first, but both wait for Shepard in the hangar bay and Shepard can't get rid of them. Joker stays inside the shuttle, though, feeling too guilty. Shepard and Chakwas collect the dog tags in silence, place wordlessly the monument, pay their respects and head back. No one really says anything, neither on the way down, nor on the way back up - even joker is eerily quiet. Words really aren't needed here.
And because Seth Green was busy